James Herriot exhibition touring museums across Russia

The creator of the All Creatures Great And Small books, which were made into a classic BBC TV drama starring Christopher Timothy as Herriot, has a huge following in the former Soviet state after he travelled there in the 1960s.

This has seen an exhibition of some of the author’s possessions, whose real name was Alf Wight, set up at Russia’s State Darwin Museum in Moscow, which will now go to St Petersburg and other museums across the country.

There is an English Club of Fans of James Herriot in Moscow and so many have visited the World of James Herriot museum in the north Yorkshire town of Thirsk that there are plans to include a permanent Russian language section.

Svetlana Kolosova, the curator of the museum in Moscow, recently visited Britain to strengthen ties with the Thirsk museum and present them with a Certificate of Understanding and Appreciation.